Marvel has always been the cooler of the Big Two publishers. This started in the Silver Age when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created what we know now as the Marvel Universe. Those Silver Age Marvel heroes were able to grab readers attention because they were cool and had aura. Likewise, villains were created who also had a similar aura, creating some of the most beloved villains in comics. These villains have that little extra something, and they’ve become some of the most popular villains ever created. However, not every villain is created equal. For every villain out there with incalculable aura, there’s multiple villains who aren’t as aura blessed.
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Over the years, Marvel readers have had to deal with many, many villains who aren’t exactly known for their aura. These villains aren’t always bad villains — some of them are extremely important to their characters — but they just aren’t as cool as other villains. These ten Marvel villains have the last aura, and it’s hurt their standing as villains over the years.
10) Black Knight I
The Masters of Evil have battled the Avengers for years, and were one of the team’s first major group of foes. However, looking back at the original Masters of Evil, it’s plain to see that version of the team had very little aura in general, and Black Knight I was a perfect example of that. Nathan Garrett held the Ebon Blade, which made him evil. That’s pretty much his entire MO — he was an evil knight with a cursed sword and kind of cool of pegasus. There was nothing cool about Black Knight I, and he’d completely fade away, replaced by Dane Whitman, himself riding the Black Knight mantle in obscurity.
9) Baron Heinrich Zemo
Speaking of the original Masters of Evil, the team’s lack of aura started at the top. Baron Heinrich Zemo worked with Hitler and the Red Skull during World War II, and survived the war, using Hydra to keep the hope of the Fourth Reich alive. When Captain America returned, Heinrich went after his old foe, and brought together the Masters of Evil. Heinrich was basically a stereotype of a villain, and while he had a cool costume, he was exactly the kind of histrionic Nazi villain you’re expecting. There’s no aura to Heinrich Zemo, and that’s why Helmut Zemo, his son, has been able to take the spotlight.
8) The Celestials
Cosmic Marvel is full of powerful characters, but few of them are as potent as the Celestials. The Celestials are cosmic scientists, beings made of energy wearing indestructible armor, traveling the stars, and creating life. The Celestials aren’t really characters, per say, they’re just plot elements. They have names and roles, but they’re mostly silent judges. Sure, they look cool, but there’s no aura to them whatsoever. They’re on a level so advanced that we never really spend any time with them as anything other than impassive monsters that have to be placated or outsmarted.
7) Gorr the God-Butcher
Thor is an insanely powerful hero, and this has led to him battling against some of the most devastating villains out there. A villain that has made a huge impact in the 21st century is Gorr the God-Butcher, an alien who used All-Black the Necrosword to kill gods. Gorr was a huge threat to Thor and gave people some great Thor stories. However, once you take away the All-Black, there’s really nothing to Gorr. There’s a reason the MCU couldn’t make Gorr work; there’s really nothing to make him a great villain other than his power level. Gorr is more of a symbol than anything else, and this has made him a character that isn’t very interesting.
6) The Abomination
The Hulk is more well-known for fighting the military or the superheroes, but those aren’t the only people he fights. The Hulk has some dangerous villains, but they don’t really have a lot of aura. The Abomination is a perfect example of this. There’s nothing wrong with the Abomination as a villain, but he’s just a big monster to punch. That’s pretty much the extent of what the Abomination is good for. He has no aura whatsoever, and no one really cares about him as a character. He shows up, throws punches, get punched, and then disappears until someone decides that the Hulk needs to get away from more horror-influenced storytelling.
5) Selene
The X-Men have the best rogues gallery of any time in the Marvel Universe, but there are some X-Men villains that don’t have a lot of aura. One of the more surprising aura-lacking X-Men villains is Selene. Selene should be popular; she’s a beautiful woman with goth leanings and lots of power. She’s a vampire, which is always cool. She should be an A-list X-Men villain, but it doesn’t matter how powerful she is or how many dead mutants she’s raised or how powerful her magic is. However, none of that has ever given Selene the aura she needs to overtake someone like Mister Sinister or Apocalypse (possibly because she’s an energy vampire and not a blood one). Selene is an okay villain that’s fine in small doses, but doesn’t have the aura to stand with the big dogs.
4) Cyber
Wolverine has battled many powerful villains over the years, and is one of Marvel’s most popular characters. However, there’s not a lot of very popular Wolverine villains, and aura is a big part of that. Cyber shows the problem with a lot of Wolverine villains. Cyber looks good, has an interesting history involving body-jumping, and cool powers. However, he’s just one of many people who hated Wolverine for decades and has been trying to kill him ever since. Cyber’s problem is that he’s like so many other villains that he’s just not all that great to read about. He’s just an evil soldier, and there’s nothing to grab anyone’s attention after they look at him once.
3) Fabian Cortez
Fabian Cortez was introduced in a comic that sold eight million copies, 1991’s X-Men (Vol. 2) #1, and yet no one knows who he is because he has no aura. Fabian Cortez led a group of mutants to Asteroid M to work with Magneto, and then betrayed him because of the game of the Upstarts, a group of young mutants who got points for killing the more well-known villains. Fabian became the most important Upstart, but that’s like being the toughest kid in the spina bifida ward. Since then, Fabian Cortez has been a C-list villain because he has no aura. He’s not a cool bad guy, and he’s not a very deep bad guy. He’s just a garden variety manipulator; he’ll get dusted off, no one cares, and then he’s gone again.
2) Mad Thinker
When Marvel fans think of the most intelligent Marvel villains, they think of Doctor Doom or Mister Sinister, even the Red Skull. However, they don’t think about Mad Thinker. Mad Thinker is a villain who has vied mentally with Mister Fantastic over the decades, and has more than earned Reed Richards’s respect. The problem with Mad Thinker is his lack of aura. He’s usually drawn as kind of homely and wears non-descript green jump suits. He’s just smart and angry, not having any really interesting character traits to give him any kind of aura, like Doom.
1) Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man faces some formidable villains, but few of them have done as much damage as Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus has had a good time of things in the last decade and a half. He’s risen to the point where many — including Spider-Man expert Dan Slott — consider him Spider-Man’s greatest villain. However, for most fans, base Doctor Octopus isn’t exactly cool. This changed with his change into the Superior Spider-Man, but since he’s gone back to being plain old Doctor Octopus, he’s not nearly as well-loved. Doc Ock has never really had much aura, and that’s his main problem. He’s a stereotype most of the time, and that’s held him back.
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